


Steve and Kono's summer adventures

by azhureheart



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-09-04
Updated: 2011-09-04
Packaged: 2017-10-23 10:32:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 17,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/249324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/azhureheart/pseuds/azhureheart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>post 124. Steve and Kono escape from the HPD, live in the jungle and track Wo-Fat when they're not busy giving Danny & Chin many many headaches.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Steve and Kono's summer adventures

**Author's Note:**

> written for the mini-Big Bang at [Steve/Danno Slash](http://stevedannoslash.livejournal.com) (@Livejournal)  
> Thanks to Lili & Bunny for being awesome cheerleaders and taking the time to beta that thing at the last minute. All remaining errors are mine.  
> It's the first time I write a fic that long in English. I can't believe I did it.

**1\. The Escapists**

Jenna was on her sixth coffee of the day and it wasn't eight yet. She had only slept for two hours, and it had been on the office's couch. She thought it was only right. She doubted very much that Steve or Kono had had any sleep in their cells. She had seen their faces on the police department's security feed she had hacked into. They had both been kept overnight but only Steve had been charged for the moment. Kono's fate was still pending but the evidence against her were pretty damning.

Danny was as much of a mess as she was. The whole situation was a train wreck and there was only the two of them. They had worked all night on tracking Wo Fat and hadn't been nearly as successful as they had hoped. Even if they caught up with him – if he was still on the island – they had next to nothing on him. Around three, Danny had stated, with a look almost as crazy as a McGarrett special, that, if they were to catch him, Miranda rights be damned, he was ready to take a page from Steve's book if it meant exonerating his friends.

Like her, he had too much coffee and anger in him and not nearly enough sleep.

Chin joined them at seven thirty. If she hadn't known him, he may have been able to fool her into thinking all was perfect in his world. She did though and she could see his calm was only for show. His eyes betrayed him. He was looking a bit frayed around the edges and felt probably even worse; she knew how close he was to his cousin and his boss.

“What news?” Danny asked immediately, not even letting him the time to walk to where they were standing.

“Kono is going to be charged this morning. She should be able to make bail. Steve... not so much.”

Jenna sighed, Danny hit the smart desk. Chin didn't comment.

“Was there nothing you could do?”

It sounded like an accusation and that flared Chin up. Suddenly the zen master was gone and Chin was right in Danny's face.

“What do you think I've been doing? I need to keep the trust of HPD if I'm going to be any help to either of them. Somebody has to and I don't see how you could manage credibility.”

Jenna was officially just a tourist and Danny had made a scandal when they had refused to let him see his partner.

“Guys, come on!” Jenna tried but they didn't hear her.

“Fuck you Chin. You didn't have to arrest him.”

“I wasn't alone. And better me arresting him than another cop shooting him.

“Guys!” Jenna screamed. “We've better things to do than arguing, don't you think? So tone down the testosterone and get to work.”

They were surprised to hear her being so vehement. She wasn't some meek little thing. Even if she was only an analyst, she was still CIA.

They hadn't been talking over the sheets of data and videos from different cameras in the city for more than ten minutes when Chin's phone rang. For a guy usually so poised, his face went through a great many emotions after taking the call.

“Anyone hurt ?” he asked after a while. “That's good at least...” Another pause then, “I'll be there in twenty.”

He faced them with such a somber look the news couldn't be good. He pushed his hair back with a trembling hand. “They have escaped.”

“What?”

“They have escaped. Kono and Steve escaped. Overpowered their guards and took down anybody standing in their way.”

That sucked all the fight out of Danny.

“Those crazy bastards.”

“HPD is issuing a state-wide alert. They're considered armed and dangerous.”

Jenna knew what that means. The police was going to go after them all guns blazing, shoot at the slightest suspicion and ask questions later.

“I'm going to kill them.” Danny said without energy.

Chin looked as defeated.

Jenna just wanted to cry.

Fortunately they had no time for that.

\---

“We need to ditch the car.”

Kono didn't slow down but she turned toward him, her foot on the accelerator.

“There is a parking two blocks away. We'll find a new ride there, no problem.”

Steve watched the road for two. It was funny it took a prison break to learn that Kono was as crazy as he was behind the wheel. She passed between two cars and cut in front of a third while talking to him. For the first time, he understood Danny's position. She should at least watch the road. They didn't escape from HPD headquarters to die in a car accident. At least he didn't. The crazy gal doing the driving might.

“What's the plan, Boss?”

“We find Wo Fat.”

“And then?”

“And then, we'll see.”

Steve pretty much wanted to kill him on sight, a nice clean bullet right between the eyes, so he couldn't slip through their fingers once again but he needed a new murder charge as much as a hooker needed a STD. But in his case like in the hooker's, it was very much probable he would get a new one before all was said and done.

Hindsight is always twenty-twenty.

He could hear Danno “I told you so” and the much longer rant that was sure to follow, loud and clear. He shouldn't have confronted the Governor on his own. He should have followed proper channels, proper protocols, but he had never been very good at that. That was why he had Danno. But between his rage and thirst for revenge and the _Incident_ , he hadn't been very good at listening to his partner's advice.

“We need to stay away from Kamekona, he will be under surveillance but we need supplies.”

“I think I have an idea.”

Kono was very resourceful this morning.

She had busted them out. Playing the pretty but helpless rookie, she had managed to disarm the cop on guard-duty. Then she found him. She even had the keys to the cells.

He had argued with her. She shouldn't be doing that. There was still a chance the others would clear them.

“Come on Boss,” she had said, “you might be innocent but I'm not. Wo Fat is out there. Let's go kick some asses. Or do you prefer to stay there all dark and brooding à la Johnny Cash?”

“I'm not...” Truth was he had been pretty shaken up by his arrest and then, he had heard two cops talking about disbanding his task force and Danny transferring back to Newark. That had finished him. Before Kono found him, he had been pretty much ready to just sit up and wait for his fate.

“Get out of your funk and let's go.” She had said. “They'll know something is wrong soon.”

He had followed her. Of course he had. She was _ohana_ and she wouldn't have left without her.

And like she said, Wo-Fat was still out there.

They found a black sedan in the parking lot. Kono opened the doors like a seasoned pro. Steve hotwired it.

“You know,” she said while they were driving towards Ko'olauloa at much more sedate pace, “we could be like The A-Team Hawaii.”

He laughed.

She had been right. Things didn't look so bleak as they had a few hours before.

 **2\. Establishing patterns**

Five days after their breakout, Steve and Kono had set themselves up in a nice hide-out in the jungle – an old wood shack with more holes than actual walls. Nobody had used it for years, not since the trail passing nearby had been abandoned. It suited their needs perfectly : remote, discreet and without any link to either of them.

They had initially stayed two days with Ben Bass in Ko'olaulea. Kono's old boyfriend had been very helpful, trusting them, trusting they had been set up and he had proposed to help them anyway he could. Steve hadn't wanted to ask for anything but Kono had been more practical. These two days had been put to good use. Steve had gathered intel on the police's investigation, put out as many false leads as he could and scouted for a place they could stay in. Ben's community was friendly and they weren't in the habit of asking too many questions but they had known it was only a temporary solution. There were families with children there, and they didn't deserve to have the cops descend on them, all guns drawn. The place was good for a night, maybe two if they were lucky and they had been, but more than that was asking for trouble. Chin knew about Ben and even if Kono wasn't with him anymore, the police was going to end up asking him questions sooner rather than later. His liaison with Kono had been public.

So they had driven an old jeep from Mr Chi's scrap yard and left it two miles from the cabin. Steve guessed than calling it a cabin was maybe pushing it a little. Two miles was as near as they could go with a car. They spent a day hauling everything on foot from the beat-up car to the shack. With a generator and weapons courtesy of one of Kamekona's cousin, a satellite liaison wrenched from Cath, and an entire computer system and burners phones offered by Ben, they would be able to go after Wo-Fat.

“Home sweet home.” Kono said, passing him a beer. “You sure know how to treat a girl right, Boss.”

“Yeah well, if you want to put up curtains and flowers, knock yourself out.”

Kono rolled her eyes. “Do you know me at all?”

He knew her and he was glad she was the one here with him. There were going to live in very close quarters for the foreseeable future and there weren't many people he was comfortable to do that with. He was used to it from his days in the SEALs and he knew how easily it could become unbearable.

“Tonight we rest. Tomorrow we begin to shake everyone who has the slightest connection to Wo-Fat and see what falls.”

Kono made her knuckles crack. “I can't wait.”

“Have you ever had the chance to eat MREs?” Steve asked, throwing one at her. They had bought a box of the blue bags in an army supply.

“Can't say I was ever that lucky.”

She opened hers and made a face. Steve chuckled remembering the first time he had to eat one.

“It's an acquired taste. Once I spent three months on MREs. They're good when you're in a tight spot - they keep well.”

“Of course. It's like eating cardboard.”

“Don't worry. We'll buy fruits and real food tomorrow... or the day after.”

She took another bite. “Tomorrow. Definitively.”

The first “person of interest” they visited was a small arms dealer. Suspected arms dealer – nobody had ever been able to pin something on him. Yet, if you were searching for things that could go boom that were a little more refine than fertilizer on Oahu his name kept coming up. They had been pretty sure Chin's explosive collar had come from him. They had picked him up but hadn't gotten anything from him. He hadn't cracked under the pressure and they had had nothing on him.

It was time to have a second friendly chat with him.

They reconned the house he was living in all morning and then, they made their move. They took out the cameras first. A roundhouse kick from Kono had a guard down, Steve strangled the other two unconscious. They move well together, both confident in the other's abilities. They finally found him in the garden. Their target was having a late lunch near a beautiful swimming-pool. Crime was paying big time.

“Hello Gareth, enjoying your meal?”

The guy didn't show any fear at seeing two persons in his backyard, guns pointed at him. He hadn't been fazed last time either, not even in Steve's special interrogation room. “The bastard has nerves of steel” Danny had said, frustrated.

“Commander McGarrett, I would have thought that having the entire police force after you would have spared me one of your unfortunate visits.”

“I don't like to be too predictable.”

“Well you should be on your way if you don't want me to call the cops. I'm the law-abiding citizen here. You're not.”

Kono, who didn't like to be ignored, sat at Sinclar's table, straddling the chair up.

“Funny should mention that.” She said with a smile. “Things have changed since last time.”

“And not to your advantages.”

“I wouldn't say that.”

Steve hauled him up to his feet by the collar. He pushed his gun in the man's face.

“You know why the governor is dead. She worked for Wo-Fat. Just like you.”

“Like you said,” Kono continued, “we're _not_

law abiding citizens anymore. You should talk.”

“Where is Wo-Fat?” Steve asked, the barrel of his gun pressing against the left eye of the guy. “And we don't have time to waste so make the first answer the right one.”

Even after a few minutes in the pool, Sinclar didn't know where Wo-Fat was, only that he was still in Hawaii. That was more than they had previously known. It wasn't much but it was something, a hope. They also convinced Sinclar to reveal where he kept his stock. After they liberated a bit of Semtex and C4 and an entire case of grenades, they called in an anonymous tip. No need to let that asshole run free.

\---

Danny hadn't been part of the team who followed up on the tip on Gareth Sinclar but he had heard about it. Everybody had. The officers who had responded had found a container with enough explosives to destroy half of the island and a wet Sinclar “sleeping” at a desk.

He had know who was responsible for the tip, he wasn't stupid. Sinclar had been on their radar for a few months before everything went south. What Steve was doing scared him. No one had had any news from Kono or him. They were out there doing who knew what crazy and too dangerous things, without Chin or him to keep them grounded. It was bound to end up in disaster.

Ten days after their escape, he found his car parked in a different spot that the one he had left her that morning. It hadn't seem like it had been tampered with. Everything down to his old cup of coffee was where it had been. He hadn't had anything to steal in the car anyway. Except for the car. Which was nice and no self-respecting thief would simply give it back after using it for whatever reasons.

A strange intuition made him look inside the glove compartment.

"I don't believe this."

Most people would have seen that as a threat. Steve must have rubbed on him more than he thought because the grenade he found actually made him smile.

An unsigned note went with it, saying “ _you never know when one will come in handy_.”

He laughed, not joyously, and closed the compartment.

After only a week, the Honolulu Police Department had begun to reallocate its force. They couldn't keep the majority of the men on the McGarrett/Kalakaua capture. Slowly but steadily they would reassign all the men until there were only a small team on the case. Danny knew even them would soon find more recent and urgent case files on their desks. Danny had never been on it. He wasn't trusted by the power that be. That was probably better. He would have be tempted to arrest them just so he could knock their heads for being so stupid.

Steve and Kono had been everywhere. They had been seen all around the island but nobody had come close enough to catch them. These two crazy loonies were rapidly creating their own urban legend. Since the 5-0 Task Force had been dissolved and he had rejoined the HPD, he had heard lots of rumors on Steve and Kono, each one craziest than the precedent. They were Bonnie and Clyde. They were Robin Hood slash The Avengers. They were psychos bent on revenge. They were having wild sex on the beaches – that one was pretty much the more far-fetched.

What was true was they were ghosts and went through the Hawaiian underground with a sledgehammer searching for Wo-Fat and taking no gloves with the criminals. The police had received half-a-dozen anonymous calls since the first tip. Each time they responded they found a criminal and his ill-gotten gains waiting for them. Some had been in truly ridiculous tableaux. Danny hadn't seen any of them first hand but he had seen pictures and recognized Kono's suspicious sense of humor.

Danny had not received any direct news but he had found a few gifts in his car or on his doorstep, a best-of of 80's songs in his car's stereo, a pizza - sans pineapple- delivered at his door just when he was coming home. Chin and Jenna had got a few presents themselves. Steve and Kono were keeping tabs on them. He had sometimes felt like he was being watched but didn't spot anyone. IA would have been more conspicuous.

Danny didn't currently have a partner. He worked alone and was kind of glad of that. Following on Steve would have been an impossible feat for the men of the property crimes division and nobody had exactly vied for the privilege. The first time he had been in HPD he had been a Ha'ole. This time he was an ex-5-0 pariah. Things could have been easier if he hadn't been defending Steve and Kono every chance he got. He had never been good at making things easier for himself. So he was confined to property crimes. He was becoming quite the expert on burglary and petty thefts. His days were filled with breaking and entering cases he had next to no chance of solving.

In those conditions it should have been hard to justify staying in Hawaii when Grace and Rachel were in Newark. His work was uninteresting, Steve and Kono didn't want or need his help. Neither Jenna or him were making progress on the Wo-Fat front. But ten days later he still hadn't taken a plane. Every time he had been ready to call it quit, he had found another stupid gift and decided to stay “just one more day”.

He knew he couldn't continue like this. It wasn't fair to Rachel and he missed his daughter fiercely – a call every night didn't really make up for not being able to see her.

He wasn't so blind he didn't understand what he was doing.

He was playing for time and with every damn day that passed he was reconsidering a little more the move back to Newark.

Still the rate of solved cases was up sixty-three percents since he had joined the three bozos that had been in the property crimes division since the dawn of time.

Speaking of which one of the portly malasadas eaters was coming to his desk.

“A new one for you, Ha'ole. A B&E. A stolen home cinema.”

Danny took the files with a glare. Those guys were a joke. They were the one giving a bad name to the police department. Uncaring lazy assholes, just there for the pay and maybe for the power having a gun at their belt gave them.

“At least if I'm on the case maybe the perp will actually be caught. It's more than I could say about your cases. When was the last time you booked someone for a crime? If you spend more time working than you did with your thumb up your ass, maybe you would solve one. I'm not betting on that though. You wouldn't recognize a thief even if he was on your knees, doing a lap-dance."

He put on his vest and took his keys. “Don't damage your little brains with too much mine sweepers while I'm gone. That would be a change.”

 **3\. The H-Team**

Steve came back to their shack before Kono and used the time to clean around a little. He wouldn't have been able to do it with her in the place. She really was the worst slob he had ever been unlucky enough to live with. At least in the Navy, the men were forced to maintain certain standards. Kono didn't even have the most basic ones. When everything returned to normal, he vowed to send a cleaning team at least once a week to the flat she was renting. If he didn't, he was sure they would find her one day dead, buried under months of filth and trash.

He knew she was approaching when she tripped one of the strings of his rudimentary alarm system, the can of Chef Boyardee's Beefaroni fell on the floor and then Kono's favorite – Big Ravioli. That was the signal they used to signal the one that was in the shack it was the other coming back and not an assault team of the HPD.

With any chance, Kono would have brought back some fresh fruits and vegetables.

“I've got us a job.” was the first thing the woman said.

“I didn't know we were searching for one.”

Truth was they stole what they needed from the guys they “visited” in their quest for Wo Fat. Kono said it was like they were in a video game : the heroes were in a mission to find the villains and they got to loot the houses of all the henchmen they found on the road. These men usually had cash and weapons and that was all they needed. Weapons more than cash, really.

“I told you we could do more than search for Wo Fat. The leads we have need a little time before they pan out and we need to stay busy if we don't want to kill each other.”

She was right. He was going to kill her and lit her body on fire with all the garbage she had been collecting and calling “her stuff” if they had to confine themselves to the shack for any length of time.

“What is it?”

“Ben knows a woman, from the beach community.”

“You're still seeing him?”

She glared.

“I have needs and I don't see you putting out.”

Steve almost retched – he coughed instead. He loved Kono. Really he did. She was beautiful and smart and he liked beautiful, smart women. But he would never ever sleep with her, even if she hadn't been her friend and Chin's cousin. She was scary and he liked his balls attached to his body.

“Right. You're seeing Ben and he knows a woman. And she needs our help?”

“She does. She divorced her asshole of a husband last year and she has the custody of their kid, the judge gave it to her. He never payed the pension, of course, but she still gave him his visitation rights for the kid's sake. But last week, he didn't bring her daughter back.”

“It seems to be something the police could deal with easily.”

“They could if the guy wasn't a friend of the police chief. He is playing for time until he can convince his friend to give the girl back... she doesn't trust them. She is scared he will try to run. And she doesn't have the money for a lawyer.”

“Right. And she wants us to make sure she gets her daughter back.”

“Yes.”

“You're sure it's the truth? We won't be kidnapping the girl from her legal guardian if we took her back to her mother?”

“No, I asked Charlie – from the crime lab to check her story for us.”

“Charlie? More needs you have?”

Kono smiled, but didn't answer.

“I guess we have to help if the HPD isn't doing its job.”

The father lived twenty minutes away from Honolulu in a farm surrounded by jungle on one side, sea on the other. To complicate things, there was only one road leading to his property, and you could see it from the house. They couldn't surprise him by arriving from there. Steve's plan was good and simple. Kono was going to play the pretty girl lost and distract the guy while Steve came from the jungle and took the girl.

“You only made that plan so you'll have an excuse to use your camo. Chin told me all about you and your jungle alter-ego.”

“I don't know what you're talking about.”

He flipped her out.

“It's okay, Boss. We all have our vices. Yours are only weirder than most people's."

“You have your piece?" She rolled her eyes, but Steve continued. “The father shouldn't be armed and we don't want to kill him. The mom is counting on us for a smooth resolution.”

Kono had stolen the car on a parking – a shiny silver sedan. Steve had shown her out to hot wire cars and she was nothing if not a quick study. Steve had let her drive. He had to get ready before they get to his stop. And yes, that involved camo but it wasn't weird. He did it plenty of times with his buddies.

“How come I'm the girl and you've got more make- up than me stashed in here?” Kono asked while watching him applying black and dark green on his face.

“So I can say you're a girl now?” She had insisted quite forcefully she was a woman and not a girl and that the team should remember that if they didn't want to lose their balls and become boys.

“No. I can, you can't.”

“Right. It's not make-up anyway it's military issued camouflage.”

Kono chuckled. "Sounds like a fancy way to say make-up."

Steve flipped her off once again before returning to his reflection in the mirror. She laughed and then singing a famous air he had no trouble recognizing.

“If you have a problem...if no one else can help...and if you can find them...maybe you can hire...The A-Team. I told you the first day, we could be the A-Team Hawaii. The H-Team.”

She drop him off two miles from the house and waited off the road till the agreed time to enter in the game.

Steve had the time of his life, trekking through the jungle on his own. He probably had too much fun in a mission that was aiming at reuniting a mother and her daughter but he loved progressing between the trees, hyper aware of his surroundings, alert to any kind of dangers. Unfortunately he didn't met anyone. Not even a little trap, not even dangerous wild life. Still he found a river to cross on a liana. The water wasn't that deep but it was more fun like that and his rangers hadn't gotten wet.

The farm was on the edge of the jungle. He took his thermal binoculars and tried to locate the missing little girl so he could act as soon as Kono arrived. He would just have to be fast, in and out. There was only two human beings in the house and a small animal that probably was a dog. The little one seemed sitting on the floor on a room at the rear of the house on the second floor. The adult - the father he supposed - was on the ground floor and seemed to be watching something in the sink. Letting the hot water run like that wasn't very green of him.

He heard a car approach and he soon saw the silver Sedan leaving the main road to enter the property. Kono honked two times. The man went out almost immediately. Kono got out of the car, her long shapely legs first. The man wouldn't know what hit him.

Steve moved silently not disturbing even a leaf on the floor, he had a Taser in the hand, for the dog. The back door was opened, nobody closed anything so far inland. They had bet on that. The dog hadn't bark when Kono had honked maybe the beast was sweet tempered and wouldn't bother him either. He wasn't taking any risk though, he had a stun gun and was ready to use it. He didn't need a bite – with his luck it would get infected in Kono's garbage collections.

He found the girl, she was playing with dolls in what looked like her room. Her eyes got huge when she saw him open the door. He knew he must have scared her. He had his hand on her mouth before she could scream.

“Dorothy? My name is Steve and I'm here to bring you back to your mom. You want to see you're mom right? So I really need you not to make a sound. You can do that for me?”

Her vicious kicks in his midsection were answers enough. She was a fighter and not taking the words of a stranger easily, good for her. It wasn't so good for Steve or his kidneys. He wouldn't be able to carry her and shut her up at the same time if she didn't want to cooperate. Time for plan B. Steve got a black scarf from one of his pocket and gagged her. Then he tied her up so she would hurt him – you gotta love cable ties.

The little girl on his left shoulder, he left the house without delay. Kono was probably wrapping it up. She would pick them up at the same coordinates she had left him an hour ago. They would have to stay on side roads until they brought the girl to her mother.

Kono arrived almost as the same time he did. She looked at him with surprise and disgust.

“What did you do?!”

“What do you mean? Open the trunk.”

“We're not putting a ten year old girl in the trunk of the car. Are you crazy? Why did you tie her up? She is a child for god sake!”

“She was kicking and she would have been screaming. I couldn't have that.”

“Asshole, your stupid make-up must have been terrifying for her.”

“It's camo, not make-up.”

“Whatever. She is the same age as Grace. ”

Steve put his target on the ground and for the first time, he saw not his charge but a little girl. She _was_ the same age as Gracie. Danny would have killed him if he had acted like that with his daughter. With any child.

“Right. I'm sorry.”

Kono untied her and the first thing she did was of course to kick him in the chin. That made Kono laughed. Then, she punched him in the arm. Hard.

“Dorothy has the front seat. You're lucky I don't put _you_ in the trunk. And don't think I won't tell Danny.”

Steve thought wiser to silently go in the car while Kono offered juice and a chocolate bar to Dorothy.

The mother was ecstatic and couldn't stop thanking them or hugging her little girl. She didn't have money to give them and they wouldn't have accept it anyway but she did a mean meatloaf. After days of canned food, it tasted like heaven.

 **4\. Beware of young boys**

Danny went back to his apartment with an arm in a sling and slightly limping. That was more humiliating that the time Chin had to save him from drowning in two feet of water – stupid surfboard. Thank God, nothing was broken and after a good night of sleep his knee would probably stop acting up. The paramedics had told him his arm would heal in a few days, if he took it easy. They didn't know him. Jenna had offered to drive him home but his already bruised ego couldn't accept her kindness.

He opened the door and immediately felt he wasn't alone. His free hand was instinctively reaching for his gun when he recognized the silhouette and the voice that greeted him.

“Hi Danno.”

Danny felt the pent-up anger of the last few weeks rise in him all at once. He turned the lights on, watching with no small pleasure Steve's discomfort at the sudden brightness that lighted the room. Unfortunately it didn't last. Steve was sitting on his bed with one of his trademarked goofy smiles. Sitting and smiling. Like everything was alright.

“Don't 'hi Danno' me you asshole! Are you crazy?! No don't answer that, I know already. If the months I spent as your partner had left me with any doubts on the subject of your insanity, your latest stunts would have clear them. What were you thinking Steven? Really what were you thinking? The space between your ears must really be empty for you to imagine a plan like that. And how could you take Kono with you? You know how she looks up to you and you know she is already half as crazy as you are. We agreed you wouldn't encourage her Steven! You should have left her out of your ridicule little scheme. What am I saying? You should have both stayed put! I should punch you! The only reason I won't is because I'm not sure I couldn't stop if I began to kick the crap out of you. And one of my arms is already out of business. You had all the HPD after you. They could have killed you, with the blessing of the chief even. You could have ended up dead you asshole!

His tirade didn't wipe the smile off Steve's face like he had intended too. If anything, it seemed brighter.

“God Danno... I missed this.”

“You missed that.” He repeated coldly and slowly articulating each word with the utmost precision. “You missed that.”

“Yes. I missed it. Is that so hard to imagine? I'm used to your daily rants. They're you.”

“Then you should have stayed in the custody of the HPD. I would have remarked on your stupidity every damn chance I got.”

“I didn't know how long you would be staying in Hawaii and I don't trust the HPD. I knew they wouldn't search very far and I was right. They never searched passed me.”

Danny was floored. Did Steve really think he would have left the island before he was cleared? And who the fuck told him about his move? He had wanted to tell him one on one but there hadn't been any time. The blond chose to answer only to the second part of his sentence. He didn't want to get the issue confused there.

 _Steve_ was the problem of gigantic imbecilic proportions.

“Of course the HPD didn't search for someone else. You escape. You escape like a guilty perp. They took that as a confession. They mobilized every cops on the island for your capture. They had nobody to investigate an other hypothesis. You didn't let them the chance.”

“A chance to screw me.”

“Oh no Babe, you do that very well all on your own. What are you doing harassing all the criminals of this island? If you needed a hobby that bad, I would have bought you a knitting kit.”

“We're searching for Wo-Fat.”

“You'll be both killed before it happens.”

“We've made good progress you know.”

“No I don't ! You left, remember?!”

For a second Danny thought he saw something in Steve's eyes but it was gone as fast as it had appeared.

“At least I didn't get beat up by a crazy ten years old.” Steve finally replied lamely. “You finally found an adversary your size and you lost to him.”

“Fuck you Steve!”

“So what happened? I heard some crazy accounts of the events. You want to tell me your side of the story?”

“Not really.”

Danny sighted and let himself fall on his one lone chair. “I had a shitty day, I'm tired and angry . I need food not you mocking me.”

Steve got up. “I could make you dinner.”

When Steve heard on a stolen police scanner that Detective Daniel Williams had been hurt on duty, his heart stopped. Only not really, because you needed to be alive to be panicking that much. It had felt that way though. Then he had heard it was just a few scraps and bruises, nothing life threatening at all. The cops on the radio even found it funny. Steve didn't. When he had still been in active duty, it had been his worth fear. Dying for nothing. Getting back alive from a mission only to be killed in a car accident or walking across the street, his eulogy the punch line of a bad joke. So Danny being hurt by a ten year old boy defending his crook of a father didn't make him laugh at all. And the kids these days... the boy could have easily been carrying.

Understandably he had been a bit anxious.

 _Incident_ or not, Danny was still _ohana_

. Kono really didn't kick his ass out of their lovely shack because he was pacing uselessly in their ten feet square homey home in the jungle. He chose to go on his own free will.

He had planed to just say a quick hello to his partner and be gone under five minutes. But Danny hadn't been there, he waited and two hours later, he found himself proposing to make dinner instead of just continuing to yank his chain and leave.

“I don't think I've anything worth cooking.”

Steve found half a bag of rice, a can of sweet corn (why would anyone who had a choice eat that?) and forgotten in the crisper for who knew how long a onion and a pepper. He could probably stir fry the vegetables and toss the rice at the end. That wouldn't be _haute cuisine_ but Danny was hungry enough not to see the difference. And it would probably be better that what he usually swallowed without Grace, Chin or him hounding him up to eat healthy.

“You should take better care of yourself. You can't survive on malasadas and KFC alone. Grace would be appalled if she saw your fridge.”

Danny glared. Steve knew most of Danny's glares. And he wasn't kidding with this one. Yet nothing could have prepared him for what followed next.

“Don't talk about my daughter. I haven't seen her in eighteen days and it's all your fault.”

That hurt. Steve turned his back on him and started to chopped angrily.

“I guess it's my fault Rachel decided to leave Stan and fly back to your precious New Jersey.”

The pepper didn't stand a chance against the fury of his knife.

“It's your fault I stayed.”

Said in an other tone, that same sentence would have rendered him very happy. But with this much resentment and accusation, it just crushed the last few hopes he had left.

“Right. Then take the first flight out tomorrow. No need to put your life on hold for us.”

Danny didn't answer, Steve continued to cook, the air in the room was frigid between them. The rice still had fifteen minutes before it was ready. He had said he would cook, and he would. He didn't know if he would have stayed otherwise – he was stubborn, he wasn't just grasping at straws to justify staying when he was obviously not wanted.

He finished to prepare the food in a oppressing silence. He wasn't sure Danny didn't really mean what he had said.

Neither of them apologize to the other but when Steve brought him his plate Danny thanked him and asked how Kono was. Steve decided it counted as a truce, served himself a plate and began awkwardly dissing the youngest member of their team.

“Disgusting, that how she is. That's what she is. She is an even bigger slob than you. I didn't think it was possible. She has the nastiest scariest habits I've ever seen.”

Danny smirked. “I'm not surprised. Have you seen her office? There are things growing inside. And she has always been scary.”

“You wouldn't want to live with her.”

“It seems the rumors of your passionate love affairs are widely exaggerated.”

Steve made a face. “She is like a sister.” And he was in love with Danny Williams since the day he met him. He shouldn't have waited that long. He had been sure weeks before the _Incident_.

“I know. But the fine detectives of the Honolulu Police Department don't have the insider knowledge I have.”

“Brainless idiots, the lot of them.”

They didn't talk much more. It was still a bit tense after that but they had to be OK if Danny admitted he had been glad to see him before he left.

The _Incident_ was only in his own head anyway. Danny didn't know how hurt he had been. The whole things had only happened in his head.

He had seen signs where they hadn't been any. He had confused love and friendship, he had mistaken flirting because of mutual attraction and flirting for a laugh or because it was part of his natural mindset. He couldn't blame Danny for something he didn't know happened. His years in the Navy, so deep in the closet, so deep in self-denial must have played tricks to his treasonous imagination. Being bisexual was as anathema as being gay in the military. Well at least it had been when he was serving and maybe that damaged his ability to know when a man was into him.

He had gone back to Hawaii to avenge his father's death and one thing leading to another he was heading the governor's task force and partnering a loudmouth Haole from New Jersey. Danny Williams. Danny had an opinion on everything and wasn't afraid to voice it. He love to rant – and when it happened to an unsuspecting bystander it was just mesmerizing. Danny was always touching touching touching and calling him babe all the time. Steve was a private man but Danny had taken over his personal space like it was his right. And for the first time of his life, Steve hadn't mind giving that right. He wouldn't have minded any other he may had wanted to take.

Late night talks, barbecues on Sunday, surfing with Grace... Steve had thought they were building something. And they had – a solid friendship. It just wasn't what he had hoped at the time. With every passing day, he had thought they were slowly building up to the point where they would both admit to their feelings, where they couldn't do anything else but to admit to them. Danny trusted him with his daughter, he had introduced him to his brother (which retrospectively had been around the time Danny had mended his relationship with Rachel – the signs had been there but he was _so sure_ he and Danny were only a question of time that he had been blinded.

They went hiking and Steve shared some very personal stuff with him. He had been hurt yes, they discovered (stumbled upon more precisely) a body but it still had been one of the best days of his life. Danny had told him he loved him. He had mimed it but it had been clear enough for Chin to mock him thoroughly in the chopper.

His smile hadn't flag for days.

They didn't talk about it after that. Steve had thought it was because Danny wasn't so sure yet. Maybe he had never been with an other man before. Maybe he was worried about Grace's reaction or that Rachel would try to take away his visitation rights once again. Steve had waited patiently, trying to make Danny understand it was alright, he could and would wait for him as long as it took. He said it with a smile, with a touch, with a glance or a cup of coffee in the morning that hold signification only to him.

Danny had probably seen only friendship.

Then Danny had been exposed to a nerve agent. When he fell, Steve's felt the floor open under him. If he hadn't been trained as a Navy SEAL, he would have humiliated himself thoroughly. He had been so scared while they waited for the ambulance, so scared and so full of regrets, he had known he had to tell him. Had to tell him. Had to tell him. There hadn't been any other alternative anymore. He thought of that on the road to the hospital, promising himself that he would tell him, like the worst cliché. If Danny survived, he would tell him.

He almost did when he brought Grace to see him. His heart was beating so hard but Grace was in the hallway and Danny needed to spend some time with his daughter. So he had gone back to Headquarters and he had hunted down the men responsible for hurting him. That, at least, he knew how to do.

As the hours passed, the knots in his belly had been tightening more and more. He was tensed, impatient and scared all at the same time. He had never been that nervous before a mission. He was conscious of every passing minutes that brought him closer to the moment he would have to face things. He had wondered many times that day if Danny was as nervous as he was. If he was watching the clock as much...

Steve had been ready to burn all his bridges that night, changing their relationship forever. That was to be the culmination of all those months of foreplay and beating around the bush.

All of that came crashing down around him when he entered the room and saw Rachel sleeping in Danny's arms. Danny's smile showed so much happiness – his hopes died with that smile.

And then Steve was leaving as fast as he could, feeling nothing as his training took precedence.

He had spent the night swimming and shooting rounds.

He really couldn't blame Danny for what had been his mistake from the start.

The _Incident_ , like Danny's feelings for him, were only in his head.

\---

That same night, Chin had the visit of Jenna. He had planned to make a detour to Danny's to see how he was but she had knocked on his door as he was shutting down his computer.

Jenna came to the HPD to announce to him she was flying back to Langley. She had been apologetic and had claimed her bosses didn't leave her any choice this time. She either went back home or she lose her job.

Chin had not believed her for a second.

There had been no shame in her attitude and she had been bumbling like she always was when she was lying. He didn't say anything. If she was lying there was a good chance it was to help Steve and Kono, maybe she even would join them wherever they were hiding.

Chin had become very good at not noticing what could bring the HPD closer to arresting his friends.

He was pretty sure Kamekona supplied them with guns, ammo and intel through one of his cousins. Light as it was after almost three weeks, Kamekona was still under surveillance. Chin had seen some of the videos and Akamu was suddenly dropping by the shave ice stand much more frequently than he used to. Steve knew Akamu. They had never been friends from what he knew but they were in high school at the same time. And with him being Kamekona's cousin...

Kono and Steve had established an impressive support system.

Chin suspected Ben Bass had help them at first, and Steve's part time girlfriend had probably helped too. That hadn't been surprising, even his HPD colleagues had thought of that. They both knew quite a few useful people and many owed them a few favors around the island. Chin hadn't been surprised by their boldness... leaving criminals they had captured as far as under the headquarters' windows. Steve and Kono had always been reckless and nobody was there to keep them on a leash. No, their... shenanigans... around Oahu with the criminals they could link however flimsily to Wo Fat's activities had been expected.

What had been surprising was the help the ordinary people of the island had given them.

Kono and Steve were playing modern-day Robin Hood, righting wrongs and giving away drug dealers money to good people. That sent all sort of rumors flying around. They were helping people, they were dangerous and crazy and they could help you when the police couldn't.

“Good luck, Jenna. You'll need it.”

She stopped fidgeting, suddenly looking like a deer caught in headlights.

“I'm... I'm just taking a plane back...”

She couldn't lie to save her life. Chin took pity of her and nodded.

“Of course. Be safe then. Working for the CIA is always dangerous.”

She knew he knew. He wouldn't say anything.

“I will.”

Jenna hugged him goodbye and left.

Chin hopped she could put some good sense into Kono and Steve but he doubted it. They were both too stubborn.

 **5\. The flirt-off.**

Kono observed people going in and out of the bar, Steve sitting beside her in the passenger seat doing the same with his own pair of binoculars.

“You know I was called Smooth Dog, right?”

Kono suppressed a laugh that would have vexed her boss. His buddies may have called him that but that had nothing to do with his ability to seduce women or even men. Or it had been meant as ironic, like the obese mob hitter was always called Little Tommy. She had heard him on the phone with his Navy squeeze, he could have made an appointment to the dentist in the same tone and with the same efficiency. She had seen the woman briefly, once. She was gorgeous, she evidently had options. Whatever Steve was bringing to the table, it wasn't his eloquence.

Or Rollins was into weird shit like administrative porn.

Worse, Kono had seen Steve mooning after Danny for months. That had been excruciatingly painful to watch. They were both so bad at that – well Danny wasn't as bad as the Boss but he had other problems like not knowing what he wanted and being deep in denial. Steve hadn't been smooth in any way with his crush on his partner.

“Yes I know, Boss. I still want to play.”

“Your loss.”

Their next target was a regular at this bar and since they had been bored out of their minds for the past few days, they had decided to make a bet out of it. They couldn't hit the bar all guns blazing, too many people, they would have to go on a fishing expedition. Neither of them was much of fan of fishing but they were both highly competitive. They had argued about who could get the more intel the faster. _Smooth Dog_ called it a flirt-off.

“I'm ready when you are.”

“You go first, I'll follow in a few minutes.”

“That's your funeral.”

If he wanted to let her have that advantage, she wasn't going to dissuade him.

Kono got out of the car and adjust her top and the extra short, extra tight shorts that looked like they had been painted on her ass. The guys inside wouldn't know what hit them.

The bar was neither classy nor drunk central. It was just one of those establishment that catered to locals who wanted to find a partner for a night or maybe a few minutes in the dark alley behind it. It had a few tables, a permanent darts tournaments, and men and women looking for a good time and cheap drinks.

A quarter hour after she had first stepped into the bar, she was bent over the pool table, getting “help” from one of her new friends. He was the most promising guy she had seen thus far. He matched the description they had and he was in the right age group. She took the shot and missed. The guy gave her a pat on the ass for trying.

If only she could confirm he had the tattoo and signal Steve.

Where was he anyway? She hadn't seen him for a while. She had to scan the bar twice before she could make him and what she saw made her stare in dismay.

He was shameless. Even from where she was standing she could see what his game was. Steve McGarrett was playing the dumb blond part. Except he wasn't blond and a guy and she had never seen a guy pull that act that well. Goofy face and wife-beater, he was smiling too much and playing the boy-toy to boot. You would never have guessed he had a brain, much less a college degree. And seeing the flock of women gravitating around him, it was working. They were totally eating it up. He was letting them touch him, flexing his muscles for them or – oh god that was so demeaning – lifting his t-shirt so they could feel up his abs.

Fit and gorgeous but harmless and dumb. She hadn't known the Boss had it in him.

“You don't want to play anymore, Honey?”

Her mark asked her. Time to get her head back in the game ; she would mock Steve later. He may have game but it still wouldn't let him their  
 _male_ target.

“Is it my turn again?” She asked with a giggle.

“Not if you want us to go somewhere more private...”

Yeah well not in this life.

“But you said you were teaching me to play?”

Two could play the dumb game.

What was Steve doing? His admirers had left him and there was only a couple with him now. Both the man and the woman were standing in his personal space and coping a feel.

“Forget about him sweetheart, as it's going he'll be the filling of a Spencer sandwich tonight.”

Spencer? Was that the name of the couple?

Steve took off his t-shirt for them, the woman was running her fingers along his tattoos, while the man was talking, all his attention directed on the Boss. His hand was on Steve's neck. It was obvious where things were going to go.

Steve and his two friends stood up and made for the door. That had to be their target. Steve wouldn't left for anyone else. Kono waited to see them exit before she followed.

“Hey where are you going?”

The guy grabbed her arm. She had enough of this bullshit. She sent him to the floor with her famous right hook.

“Learn some manners, asshole.”

In the parking, Steve had already taken actions. He was never one to wait for back-up. By the time she joined him, the man was unconscious on the ground and his frightened girlfriend had run. Smooth.

“You should have waited for me.”

Steve grinned at her. "Did Danny tell you to say that? You're right on time to help me haul him up in the trunk."

Kono took the arms, Steve the legs.

“I've never seen something so shameless. I would never have guessed _that_ as your Smooth Dog act.”

“I told you I was smooth. They were eating in my hand.”

“Smooth? More like Dumb Dog.”

“Don't be a sore loser,” he said while shutting the trunk down. “It doesn't become you.”

Something was off. Steve was too happy. There was something on his face that said he was hiding something and as she watched him put his shirt back on, she understood.

“You knew what the target was looking for.” His grin grew wider. “You knew!”

She punched him in the arm, hard.

“I may have had a small inkling he was a bi and liked to see his girlfriend getting fucked by another man...”

She glared. “I could have stayed in the car or at the bar without...”

“You were bored. You wanted a challenge.”

“You know how many men I let grope me? I'm telling the others. They would love to know why you're called Smooth Dog.”

“Come on, don't be like that. I'll let you choose where we're taking him.”

“Eight. That's how many. I'm choosing and I'm telling.”

They took the man to the roof of a building and dangled him in the air until he told them about Wo Fat. The bad news was that he had left Hawaii two days ago. The good news was that he was coming back to Hawaii and Spencer knew when. They left him tied up in front of his workshop and called the police while they were driving away. The HPD would like the fake passports and the ETAs of the next few cargoes of local human traffickers.

They had three weeks to prepare for Wo Fat's return. Kono couldn't wait.

\---

Later that night, while they were both trying to sleep, Kono turned towards him. It wasn't that easy, sleeping on the floor in bags.

“If Smooth Dog is doing so well for you, why don't you try that more often?”

Steve sighed, and for a moment she thought he would pretend he was sleeping and chose not to answer.

“I didn't need to.” He made a pause. “Danny doesn't go for dumb.”

Kono had never heard him admitting out loud his crush on their teammate. Well she should probably stop calling it a crush, she supposed.

“He is an idiot.” She said after a while.

“No... he isn't.”

 **6\. Hurt and hurt again**

Danny had once again been wounded. That was the third time since he had integrated in the property crimes division. He was beginning to think these small cases were more dangerous than being partnered with Steve and going against pirates or terrorists. Steve had heard, of course. For a wanted man, he was very well informed. How he managed to stay in touch with the law enforcement grapevine was anyone's guess. Danny bet a police scanner and Kono's lab rat boyfriend. Steve knew so when Danny came back home, tired and wanting nothing more than his bed, he had once again found a keyed-up Steve inside, waiting for him.

Waiting to scream at him, it seemed. Which was a new one but it was probably the only way emotionally stunted Navy SEALs could express their fear and worry.

“Next time you want to berate me because I don't wait for back-up, remember that.”

“How could have I known he had knife?!”

“You should have been more careful!”

Steve was angry but Danny didn't feel like it was all directed at him.

“I hate that you've to be on your own. I'm your partner I should be there for you.”

Of course, Steve would blame himself. Danny had never done police work or been in dangerous situation before coming to Hawaii and meeting Steven McGarrett. In fact, he didn't even exist. He rolled his eyes.

“It wouldn't have changed anything. He still would have had a concealed knife. It's just a graze, not even a flesh wound.”

“That's what _you_ said.”

Steve sighed heavily.

“What's that face? I don't like that face.”

He looked like a little boy pouting – which should never happened to tough Navy SEAL giant like him.

“Let me see.”

“See what?”

“Your wound!”

And he sounded as petulant as a child. Danny felt a headache coming.

“It's a wound, I told you.”

“Danny.”

He rolled his eyes again and unzipped his gym sweater – the only thing he had in his car to replace his ruined shirt. Steve's breath fell short, Danny was pretty sure the wound wasn't that bad.

Steve put his hand on the bandage on his side, almost reverently, and suddenly Danny wasn't sure what was happening there.

“Come on Babe, it's okay. I didn't even need stitches.”

Steve take a step forward, crowding him even more.

“I need you to be careful. I can't have you hurt. Last time it was a kid, now some loser with a knife, you have to be more careful. Please.”

“I'm a grown man, Steve, I can take care of myself and I'm always careful. I'm not making Grace an orphan, you know that.”

Something akin to anger flashed in Steve's eyes.

“It's not good enough. Be more careful.”

Danny heard the “or else” loud and clear.

“I hate not being able to protect you.”

He glared, he was a fucking cop not some damsel in distress.

“I don't need protection.”

“Yes you do and it's my job.”

Steve seemed to reach some kind of decision and took another step forward, pressing Danny against the counter.

“Steve?” He asked. He seemed to have lost the plot somewhere 'cause Steve wasn't screaming and he was way too close. “What are you doing?”

“I care. If you're hurt. I care.”

Oh. At last, Danny recognized the look. A small knife wound – a graze, really – was going to achieve what months of flirting had not. Steve had the worst timing in history.

“I know, Babe.” Danny said, his voice softer, almost a whisper.

His answer must have made mean more in McGarrett's twisted little brain than Danny intended to because a second later, he was kissed ; the lips of his partner were suddenly against his. Danny was surprised, yes. He tried to push Steve away but then, a hand found a nipple and tweaked it make him cry out. Steve used this opportunity to gain access to his mouth, biting a lip, plunging his tongue against Danny's. He didn't know why it was happening now but it felt good, better than it had any right too when Danny was getting back with Rachel, who was pregnant, with his baby. He really shouldn't. Yet, neither Steve nor his body had gotten the memo. He was already hard from Steve kissing him, touching him. He would have freaked out if he had had the time, he was considering cheating on a pregnant ex-spouse with his male colleague like some cheap character from day time television. But then, Steve was biting his neck and his brain just short-circuited.

Danny had wanted to have sex with Steve for months and loved Rachel but he didn't seem to care anymore. Steve was kissing and licking his way down to his cock, biting a nipple here, fucking his bellybutton with his tongue while his hands were divesting him of his boxer. He was hard and leaking for the man – his partner, his boss, his friend – at his feet. He didn't care as long as Steve did something, anything. He did, he gave the head an open mouth kiss, making him take a sharp breath.

“I've waited so long for that.”

“Steve...” Danny barely recognized his voice, it sounded so needy, it wasn't him.

“Don't worry Danno, I've got you.”

Steve stopped talking after that. He took him in his mouth, as much as he could, moaning and slurping around it like it was the best thing he had ever had. He couldn't have closed his eyes even if he had wanted to ; Steve was so beautiful like that, on his knees, eyes closed, his lips stretched around his cock, his expression blissful. Danny had never had anybody so enthusiastic to blow him, nor so skilled. His hand were gripping the counter so hard it hurt, yet he couldn't move them, he wasn't sure he wouldn't fall without the help. Quick licks of his shaft were alternated with deep sucks, Steve was playing him like he knew him that well, drawing pants, gasps and bitten back moans every time he abandoned his shaft to mouth his balls.

Danny didn't last long.

He wasn't even able to warn Steve. He didn't seem to mind. He swallowed everything and then continued to leisurely suck his hypersensitive cock a minute while Danny was getting his breathe back. He tucked him back in his pants before he stood up, smiling. Danny would have said tenderly but he couldn't associate that word with Steve. And him.

“Feel better now ?” Steve asked him, caressing his torso with both hands.

For once, Danny was at loss for word and could only nod.

“I need to leave, Kono's waiting.” He kissed him on the cheek. “Sleep well Danno. And be careful. Be careful. Please.”

Danny didn't sleep that night.

\---

Steve had the worst timing ever.

Rachel had decided to come back when she heard he had been hurt. At first, Danny had been ecstatic : he would get to see both his girls and stay in Hawaii – at least until the end of the summer. Grace had to be settled wherever they would end up in time for the first day of school. But the Rachel that had come back from New Jersey wasn't the same woman that the one that left.

And he had somehow had sex with his best friend between the moment she called from Jersey and the moment her plane landed. He hadn't got his head around that yet. He didn't suppose he could blame the pain pills the paramedics had given him. They weren't that good.

Rachel and Grace had come from the plane and there hadn't been the big movie reunion scene at the airport he had imagined – just a small and tired smile. Grace had jumped in his arms enough for two. Danny had noticed something was wrong before they were in the car, and not only on his part. Grace talked about her cousins and her grandparents and the little girl (Melissa) she had been playing with, how she went to a fair and how she missed the sun and the shaved ice and how she missed her Danno even if she had a lot of fun. Rachel stayed silent.

“I'm sorry I couldn't be there monkey.”

“That's alright Danno. You had to stay home to help uncle Steve and auntie Kono. I know that.”

His daughter was ten going on thirty.

“That's my smart girl. How did you get such a smart young lady ?”

Rachel had him drive them to a hotel, he had proposed his flat but she had said there wasn't enough place there for the three of them. It was clear he wasn't invited to spend the night when she didn't even let him put her suitcase in her room. His phone rang not five minutes after they got there, Grace was still unpacking her computer so she could show him all the pictures they had taken. He looked at the display and sighed.

“I'm sorry I have to take that. It's Chin.”

“Of course Daniel. We'll talk tomorrow.”

A few years ago, in the months before their separation, she would have said that her voice laced with accusation and anger. She didn't this time. She sounded resigned and accepting. Danny wasn't sure he liked this one better. He hadn't much choice anyway. If Chin was calling him, it was important. He leaned to kiss her but got her cheek instead.

“I'll be back tomorrow Monkey, we'll do something fun.”

“Alright Danno. Love you.”

“Love you too monkey.”

\---

Chin didn't have good news for him. Of course he hadn't. Steve and Kono had made enough of a nuisance of themselves for a bounty to be put on their heads. Chin suspected Wo Fat but nothing had changed, they still had no proof he had killed the governor, no proof Steve was innocent. And now they had to worry him or Kono would be hurt or killed by someone wanted to collect a hundred thousand dollars.

Something had to give. They couldn't keep going on like that. None of them could.

 **7\. Decisions, Decisions**

The doors opened and shut down. For a few seconds, Jenna was scared they had been discovered, but then, she remembered Steve and her had installed all of their security and if the Honolulu Police Department ever discover where they were hiding, they would not enter through the underground tunnels. And they would not be chatting loudly like Steve and Kono were.

“God, that woman can cook. I've never eaten a pecan pie that good.”

“We should have asked for a dozen of them as payment for rescuing her idiot grandson.”

“It was nice of her to invite us for the tea though. I hadn't had a good cup of tea in ages.”

“Could you be more gay?”

“I'm not.”

“Oh right. You're bi.”

“Yes, so ?”

“Whatever you say, Boss.”

They finally arrived to the part of the warehouse they had transformed in the pauper underground replica of their 5-0 headquarters, Jenna's kingdom.

When Jenna had pretend to fly back to the mainland to join them, it had been at the condition she wasn't going to sleep in a dirty wood shack in the jungle she couldn't access without a twenty minutes trek. It wasn't big enough for two people, so three was out of the question. And she didn't think she was being difficult in demanding their hiding place had toilets and a shower. The first thing she had done was to find a suitable place. She had rented the warehouse through a Langley friend who owed her a few favors she hadn't cashed in yet and siphoned what was left of her economies in hardware to outfit the place.

She was the support staff her daredevil reprobate friends had desperately needed. She could work leads from there while they collected more intel outside. She had more patience than they did for the painstaking, precise job of tracking their enemy. Wo Fat wasn't the kind of guy who left obvious evidence to follow as breadcrumbs. No, she had to analyze every details, every little piece of information Steve and Kono brought back and see where it overlaps with what they already have. She didn't make thing explode but she thought she was pretty badass in her own way. She could have continued to stay at her motel and have Kono leave messages for her every few days, but it was easier that way. She didn't have to wait for the next drop, she could ask questions and she had the time to ask them. And if she had to sleep on an inflatable mattress and forgo ice cream for a while, she would do it. She did.

“You must admit that the thing I did with the car was cool.”

“It was. I can't believe I didn't think of it.”

Jenna shook her head, these two were insane and they fed each other craziness.

“Everything went well?”

“Yes, no problem.”

“Good. Because I may have found something.”

Kono and Steve became serious and focused on her at once.

“I think I have found one of his bank account. Or really, one of his money guy. And he is on the island.”

\---

Steve was humming while prepping his weapons. He was _humming_. The Boss had always loved servicing his guns but it was the first time she had heard him hum and they had spent the past month living together in very close quarters.

“What has you so disgustingly cheerful?”

“We're going to hit Wo Fat where it's going to hurt him the most. What's not to be cheerful about?”

Hurting Wo Fat and being one step closer to catch him certainly made her feel warm and fuzzy inside. But when she stopped to think about it, Steve had had that stupid smile this morning while he was doing his push ups.

“There is something else.”

“Yes, there is. We're going to take on a yacht. I haven't had a chance to dive for months.”

“I'm still not sure we need to sink the yacht.”

“It will be the perfect diversion.”

It was, but she wasn't the one who would be doing the cool stuff with the explosives. And yet, she could tell that still wasn't all there was to Steve's good mood. He had been furious and angry only the day before when they had heard Danny had been hurt. Then he had disappeared on a supply run for a few hours and when he had come back...

“Did you see Danny yesterday?”

Steve purposely avoided her eyes. God, how could she have been so blind?

“Boss,” she said slowly, with a smile. “did you get all smooth dog on him?”

She laughed when he lost the magazine he had in his hand and blushed.

Oh that was priceless.

\---

“I've talked to my lawyer and you're not the father of the baby. You can't be.”

Rachel couldn't tell that to Danny.

Their relationship would never be totally over. They had Grace and they both loved her so much. They just didn't love each other like they did when they were young and free and everything was so much simpler. She only clung to him now because she was scared to be alone with a daughter and another child on the way.

Her marriage with Stan was dying.

It had been slowly dying for almost six months and it didn't help she cheated.

It had been Danny or her mother. She had known Danny wouldn't be neither disappointed in her nor judgmental.

He hadn't been. He had been perfect, promising everything she wanted. Newark, leaving the force, everything.

They could maybe make it work for a few years in a three bedrooms apartment in New Jersey before the troubles started again.

Rachel had indulged enough. It was time to be a grown-up and owned up to her mistakes.

\---

“What is he doing here?” Jenna had asked as soon as she had seen them coming back with their target.

Steve handcuffed him to a guide-bar before answering.

“We didn't have the time to make him talk before the coast guards arrived. So he is going to spend a little time with us.”

“We have his laptop and his cell phone.” Kono added, handing them to the analyst. “Think you can get something out of them?”

“I can try, I'll tell you what I find.”

Steve nodded and observed the man they had captured. He supposed it was kidnapping since they didn't have any authority to capture and detain prisoners. This one wouldn't press charge anyway, he would have to explain why they had chosen him and he wouldn't want to do that. Steve had had to gag him when he wouldn't stop screaming. Then, he had cried, still doing too much noise in the car. At least in the speedboat they had used to flee the yacht, the noise had covered his whimpers. The guy had no spine.

It was strange for Wo Fat to employ somebody like that. He hadn't seem to be the kind of man who accepted any weakness in his men. Either he wasn't one of them and Jenna had been wrong or the guy had something so valuable to bring to the table, Wo Fat disregarded the risk such a weak man could be to his organization. Steve didn't see him resist even to the interrogation of even the most courteous and well-mannered police officer. He seemed to be the kind who would roll over at the first sign of trouble.

Steve wasn't going to look in the gift's horse mouth. He shrugged and went back to his friends.

“If you have any trouble with the laptop, we could call Danny.” He said to Jenna.

Kono snorted, ungracefully.

“Danny?”

“Yes, he has maaaany talents.” Kono answered before he could, earning a glare from Steve and blinks from Jenna.

“He has a contact, a hacker. He is always high but weirdly efficient if you bring him junk food.”

Jenna nodded. “I will, but not tonight. Rachel and Grace just came back to the island. He'll have other things in mind tonight.”

Steve blanked. He didn't move a muscle for a few seconds. He had known Danny and Rachel were... trying... whatever they were doing. But she had been on the mainland for weeks, Danny had been there. With him. For him. It was the Incident all over again.

Kono touched his elbow, he didn't like what he saw in her eyes.

“I'm going to interrogate our guest.”

Having an easily broken prisoner didn't sound as good as it did a few moments ago.

\---

Danny came back to the hotel after his shift. He was tired and the day hadn't gone as well as it could have. He really wasn't in the ideal mindset to talk to Rachel. Still they had been dancing around what was going on between them long enough. She opened the door in a dress suit, at 10. pm that was telling. She had once told him she always felt more comfortable in one of her suits when she was preparing for a confrontation. He was in the same shirt he had been this morning, except it now felt old and dingy.

“Grace's sleeping?”

“Yes. Come in.”

They settled on the impersonal white couch of the hotel suite, neither of them seemed to want to be the first to talk. Danny broke first.

“What's going on Rachel ?”

“I... I'm pregnant. I can't make the same mistakes I did.”

“What kind of mistakes are you talking about ?”

“I've been talking to Stan. He came to Newark when I was there.”

And Danny didn't. Danny was in Hawaii working as a cop. Cheating on her with Steve. He really should get off that high horse of his.

“So he went to Newark after you. You discussed your divorce papers? Is that it?”

Rachel showed the first sign of anger. “Don't be obtuse Daniel.”

“So what ? You're having my baby but you're getting back with Step-Stan?”

She trembled a little and Danny felt his heart constrict. Please, don't let his baby be dead. Not that.

“It's not yours. I'm sorry Daniel. It's not yours.”

The blood left his face and got all in his closed fists. He felt his tightly leashed anger trying to break out.

“So what? You saw Stan and suddenly the baby isn't mine anymore? Is that it?”

He only kept his voice down so Grace wouldn't hear them – she didn't need another dose of that trauma. Their first separation had been enough for a lifetime.

“I'm not going back with Stan. Not right now and not because of the baby. I can't. I'll be staying in Hawaii until we see if we can repair our marriage.”

“You already tried that. It didn't work.”

“Maybe... but we don't either, Danny.”

“You don't know that. I love you Rachel. I love you and I love Grace and I need you both.”

Danny was leaving an out-of-body experience. It was his voice and his mouth but his brain had checked out. He did love Rachel, and he was almost as sure it wasn't only friendship he felt for Steve.

“I know that. I love you too Danny. But... I don't think I love you like you should love your husband anymore. And I don't think you love me that way either.”

“What do you know about how I feel?!”

“Enough. I know enough.”

Danny had just been dumped by Rachel a second time. This time he didn't even have his brother with him. He was a sad bastard in a strange land with no support system. Oh wait. He had a best friend but he had managed to sleep with him. He couldn't call him now and tell him he had been dumped by Rachel. He wasn't that much of an asshole. He needed alcohol. The first stop he made after leaving the hotel was to the 7/11 two blocks from his flat.

At least, he wouldn't have to house shop and worry about housing prices on the island anytime soon.

She had said the baby wasn't his.

He wasn't sure he trusted her to tell the truth on that. She may have lied before going to Jersey or she may have made a honest mistake. A cruel one yes, but involuntary. She could have calculated the dates wrong... At the time she had told him, she wasn't sleeping with Stan anymore but she probably didn't tell _Stan_ she was cheating on him with her ex-husband either. Danny loved Rachel – always had and always will – but he remembered their divorce. The viciousness of it was still fresh in his mind. Her attorney had been an unrelenting savage. They had said he was violent, unfit to be a father. They had tried everything to keep him away from Grace. He didn't want to believe she was lying to keep him away from knowing his child but he wasn't a hundred percents sure she wouldn't.

They weren't as angry with each other this time. Well he wasn't. Except for the baby thing that was driving him crazy. He wasn't angry as he had been the first time. And Rachel wasn't ; she had seemed sad but not angry and resenting. He didn't know what it meant.

He only bought one bottle of cheap Bourbon. He didn't trust himself with more right now. He would probably be in enough trouble with just one. He opened his door, thinking he probably ought to empty half of it in the kitchen drain, while he was still lucid enough to know his limits.

Steve asleep on his bed was the last thing he needed, but that was what he found when he came home. Half-naked, too pretty for his own good Steve, smiling at him half awake. He didn't need that complication now. Thank God, Rachel hadn't come back here with him.

Danny turned his back on him and put the bottle on the kitchen island with more force than necessary.

“You have two minutes to get out before I call the rest of the HPD on your ass.”

“Danno?” Steve sounded surprised. Danny knew he wasn't being fair ; he didn't care.

“Out. I'm not in the mood.”

Steve grabbed one of his arms, forcing him to face him. He looked worried. And he was way to close. He never had any respect for personal space.

“What's going on, Danno?”

“Nothing.” He hissed.

Worry left Steve's eyes, replaced by the dark intense look Danny always refused to acknowledge before. Jealousy.

That was probably the worst thing he could do right now but his brain had left the building. He needed something. And Steve was there and offering, or he would be if Danny asked.

Danny pulled on his neck and brought their lips together. Steve was surprised at first but soon he kissed him back, took control of the kiss. He could feel relief and anger. Steve was aggressive this time, not as considerate of wherever he was putting his hands as the first time. He was pressing against the wound – the graze, gripping his hip on the other so hard he would leave bruises.

Danny's tie was the first thing to go.

“I'm never sure if I hate them or not but right now I just want it gone.”

“Whatever, Babe. Just hurry.” Danny said while making a short work of his pants.

Steve pushed him against the island counter. He had a thing for that counter it seemed.

\---

Danny woke up as the sun was slowly warming the room. Everything they did the night before came back to his mind all at once. Steve was already awake, lying next to him, their legs touching from the hips down, a familiar hand on his stomach. He felt Steve's gaze on him before he opened his eyes. He was propped on one arm and he was watching him with one of his goofy smiles. His obvious happiness worked as a cold shower for Danny. There was so much love in his eyes, his heart broke a little. He shouldn't have done that, he shouldn't have let it happen. He hated himself for having used Steve like that. He was his friend first and foremost and he had taken his anger and his frustration with Rachel's news on Steve and things had escalated from there. He remembered Steve placating him against the wall, whispering words he didn't want to hear while unfastening his pants.

“What's going on in this big brain of yours Danno?”

Steve tried to appear light and amused but Danny heard the worry in his tone, and his smile shone less bright. Something must have shown on his face.

“We shouldn't have.”

Steve cupped his face in one of his hand, forcing him to make eyes contact. He was pissed off, he had a right to be.

“Why? We always knew it would come to that. This had been brewing for months. We had sex before.”

“Once!” Danny protested instinctively, before deciding to come clean. He owed him that much. He sighed. “Rachel came back.”

Steve let him go but he didn't look surprised.

“I know.”

“You do?”

“Jenna told me she flew back. She had an alert for a few names.”

Danny saw red.

“You knew and you still came here? What if she had seen you? What if Grace had saw you?”

Steve's flashed with anger.

“I would have found an excuse for Grace. But Danny, I'm not going away. Not this time. And Rachel should know that.”

Danny didn't answer, he didn't know what to say. Steve dressed up and left.

\---

Steve came back to Danny's five times in the week that followed. They had sex each time, twice he spent the night. He was occupying the field, making sure she didn't more time with Danny he had. He didn't know what was going on between them she didn't see him at night. Nights were Steve's. He saw them with Grace once at the Hilton Hawaiian Village and Danny had taken his daughter to the beach but he never saw Rachel and him alone. He wanted to believe Danny had made his choice, but he hadn't said anything and every time Steve had tried to talk about them, they had argued and Steve had ended up leaving, slamming the door behind him. Something was eating Danny.

“Could you clean up after you Kono! Your stuff is everywhere.”

The young woman made no move to get up. “You're even more tense now that you're getting some than when you were moping after him like a teenage girl.”

“Stay out of it. And pick up your things before I throw them out.”

“Yes, Dad. I mean _Boss_.” She rolled her eyes. “And I would love to but we have a meeting in twenty minutes.”

“Who is it this time? Another small business owner being threatened? A father who needs to be convinced to pay the alimony?”

“Small business. The guy has a beach shack were he sells my kind of food to tourists. Somebody is harassing him. He suspects a rival who wants his emplacement.”

“No tie to the _kappu_ or the mob?”

That would have made their outing more fun. As it was, Kono could probably solve the problem on her own. She didn't need him to put the fear of God into a civilian.

“None. But from what I heard his food is delicious.”

“Knowing your kind of food, it's delicious and it's clogging your arteries.”

“Live a little Boss, no one can leave on vegetables alone.”

It wasn't like he had something better to do before Wo Fat came back. Four more days and he would have that bastard.

“I'll drive.”

Steve and Kono arrived at the beach hut a few minutes later. The place was packed, the servers seemed to have their hands full serving the clients. Steve knew the place. He had been there once or twice with Mary before she went back to LA.

“What's the name of the guy we're meeting?”

“Peter Johnson.”

“You're sure? Last time I went there the owner was a woman named Malie.”

“When was it?”

“Six, seven months ago.”

“And she was the owner?”

“She may have given me her phone number and may have called her.” Kono smirked. “She was the owner.”

The watched silently the clients come and go as the servers ran around with heavy trays.

“What do you think? The police or a hitman waiting to collect the price on our head?”

“Not the police. We would have spotted them by now.”

Steve grabbed the bag he had put on the backseat and collected a few more guns for him and Kono.

“Want to flush them out?”

“Hell yes.”

\---

When Danny got home that night, nobody was waiting for him inside. He tried not to panic. Chin had told him about the shooting on the beach. Three men heavily armed had tried to take Kono and Steve out. Professional killers had been after them and these fools had fought instead of running away. The killers were dead but nobody knew if their friends had been hurt. Chin knew he was in contact with them and expected to be called back as soon he learned anything. Jenna hadn't answered his calls.

Steve couldn't be hurt. He was indestructible and he would have protected Kono. They would have had each other's back and Jenna would have called if anything had happened. Yet Steve wasn't there and he had been waiting for Danny to come home for the last three nights.

They had argued every time. Danny didn't know why he had yet told him Rachel and he were over. It was stupid. Rachel had made her choice and he could say he would have had it differently. He wasn't sure what was going on with the pregnancy but if he had to choose between Steve and Rachel, well, after the last few days he could honestly say she wasn't much of a competition, not when he could have Steve. He should told him that. He would.

A key turned in the door and suddenly Steve was there. He didn't look harmed. He send him one of his goofy smiles when he saw him sitting in front of the door, waiting.

“You have a key?”

Steve smiled a little brighter.

“Yes, how do you think I enter when you're not there?”

“Where did you get it?”

“I made a double when you had the flu.”

“That was nine months ago!”

Steve shrugged. Danny lashed out.

“What the fuck were you thinking?!” He asked, poking his chest with an angry index.

“It's just a key, Danno.”

“I don't care about the stupid key. I'm talking about what happened on the beach this afternoon. You could have been killed you gigantic moron! They were professional killers!”

“Kono and I can take four hitmen easily.”

“Four? They were four? Chin told me they found three! Is the fourth still after you?”

“The HPD will find him tomorrow, don't worry. I wouldn't have come back here if I was being followed by a gun for hire.”

Danny felt the headache coming. There would be no reasoning with Steve.

“I need to call Chin. He was worried.”

“Were you?”

Danny almost flared up again but something in Steve's voice stopped him. He sounded weirdly... unsure. He hated himself for that.

“Of course I was. You know I care about you.”

“Sometimes I wonder. You're with Rachel but then, you're with me. I don't know what to think.”

“Steve. It's over with Rachel. It was pretty much over since the day she came back.”

Steve stared at him, agape, for a few seconds before he launched himself at Danny.

 **8 The boss battle at the top of the highest tower**

The day was awfully ordinary.

It should have been dark and stormy, Danny reckoned. They were going to storm in Wo Fat's villa, just the three of them. He had taken a sick day from his job as an officer of the law to get himself killed with two wanted fugitives. Something was very wrong with that and the weather should have reflected it. Yet it was another sunny day on the state of Hawaii.

“You've got enough clips?” Kono asked him.

She was already in her Kevlar and busy filling a sports bag with enough guns and ammunition to start the third world war.

“Anymore and I wouldn't be able to walk.”

“Your choice,” she said while strapping another gun to her tight.

That's why he needed to come with these two bozos.

Jenna had managed to track where Wo Fat was staying. He had arrived just the day before to Hawaii in a private plane from Tokyo. Steve had called Danny – thank God for that – and told him they were going after him. “Hard” he had said. That pretty much meant it was mostly a suicide attempt half-assed planned by two adrenalin junkies. They didn't want Chin to be implicated if it turned sour. Steve made some noise about him staying with Jenna or in a car but Danny had made him shut the fuck up with a glare. No way his partner was confronting Wo Fat without him at his back.

Besides, he had promised his little girl he would protect her uncle Steve.

He couldn't let him go on his own after the villain and fifteen of his henchmen – who apparently doubled as house help if he was to believe the surveillance photos. Danny bet the six foot tall, two hundred pounds of muscles, cook with the bump of a gun under his apron wasn't only employed for his culinary talents.

“You're ready?” Steve asked, coming back with Jenna.

“Yes, Boss. Could we hurry that thing? I have a date with Charlie tonight.”

Danny frowned.

“I thought you were with that Peter?”

Steve chuckled. “The woman has needs, Danno.”

“Hey, you can talk. I know what you two did last night.”

“I heard you.” Jenna added, making Danny want the ground to swallow him. He had known staying in the warehouse would be a bad idea.

Steve smirked. “What can you do... men have needs too.”

Kono and Steve high-fived like the thirteen year old they were.

At times like this, Danny didn't really know why he was even trying this thing with Steve. And he didn't want to blame Kono or anything but Steve was even worse now than he had been before the death of Jameson. That he was more happy was a good thing but he could have done with less of the reckless and juvenile attitude. But then, Steve came to him and tightened his vest with a smile and a kiss and Danny remembered.

Jenna asked them to be careful three or four times before she let them go to the car. She obviously knew them.

“I'm driving.” Steve said.

“Hey! I was the one who stole that car!” Kono protested.

“And I'm the boss. I drive.”

“As long as you don't choose the station. I'll kill myself if I have to listen to the crap you call music. Dr Hook is not music.”

While they were arguing, Kono settled in the backseat with the weapons.

“Come on, Danno! It was only once.”

“And I'm scarred for life. So I'm choosing the station or I'm collecting the bounty on your stupid head. You know I have Grace to put through college so don't tempt me. I'll do it.”

\---

It wasn't supposed to happen like that.

Everything had been going well until they had to separate so they could come to Wo Fat from several directions. They had put down a dozen guards and they thought they had the element of surprise on their side. Not so much. They had missed some cameras or a guard had triggered a silent alarm because Wo Fat may have had only two guys left but they had been waiting for Danny and Kono and they had them disarmed before they could do anything. Steve was more lucky and managed to disarm Wo Fat.

He had him. He had Wo Fat. Everything else was wrong.

“So, what is it going to be, Commander? Your vengeance or the life of your friends?”

Steve was so pissed off. After a year, he finally had the man who killed his father at the end of his gun. He was just millimeters away from killing him. A slight change of his index's pressure on the trigger and Wo Fat would be dead once and for all. He could taste it. He was so close! And yet if he killed him, the two others would kill Kono and Danny. He tried to imagine how he could both kill Wo Fat and rescue them before the henchmen killed them... He wondered briefly if the death of their leader would really make kill his friends or if they would run. They were Wo Fat's bodyguards, they were good and probably trusted. They would probably kill them and then run.

“Maybe your two boys here want to make a deal.”

“They don't.”

“Well, we should let them decide.”

“You're playing for time.”

That was absolutely true. He couldn't let Wo Fat go. Not now. He couldn't sacrifice Kono and Danny either. And the henchmen had the bad taste to be competent. They had put his friends on their knees. They wouldn't be able to move fast enough if he thought of a distraction.

“ What do you say, guys, I kill your boss and I let you go. I don't care about you. But if you don't lower your weapons, once I've killed him, I will aim for you. And one if not both of you are going to die. You may be able to kill them but I will kill you. What do you say? You want to make it out of here alive?”

“他是什么人说什么?”

Wo Fat answered in Chinese and then turned back to him, smiling.

“Did I forget to mention they don't speak a word of English? You don't want another death on your conscience, Commander. Stop wasting my time and drop the gun.”

Steve didn't see another choice. So close, he was so close. And once again he was forced to let him slip through his fingers.

“They let them go and I'll drop it.”

But before Wo Fat could give the order, the glass ceiling over them broken in thousand pieces and a shot gun was fired in rapid succession. Steve didn't have the time to blink before he found Chin standing in front of him, Wo Fat face down on the floor under one of his boots. The two others men were dead and bits of their brains were definitively incrusted in the wall behind them. Chin Ho Kelly was nothing if not efficient.

“Chin? What are you doing here?”

Chin rolled his eyes and checked Wo Fat for weapons before untying the harness he had used to come down.

“Hey coz! Nice of you to drop by!”

Steve watched as Kono and Chin hugged. Over Wo Fat's body. Who was still alive. It wasn't supposed to end like that. He had someone to finish first.

“Jenna called me. She said you might need help.”

“I was seconds away to broke that standoff.” Danny said.

“You and what army?” Kono asked. “I was going to...”

Steve didn't listen to them. Chin was between his gun and his target. That wasn't right.

“Chin... would you mind stepping away from Wo Fat?”

“I would. He is to be arrested. Fortunately I was able to film everything that went on here. He is going to go away for a long time.”

“You can't send him in jail, he'll escape and come back to finish the job.”

“Sorry Steve but I'm an officer of the Honolulu Police Department. I have to arrest him.”

But at that moment, Wo Fat grabbed Chin's ankle and pushed him on the floor. Steve saw the gun in his hand and just reacted before anyone else could. He shot him. Right between the eyes. That should do it. Right between the eyes like he had planned since he had been arrested for the governor's murder.

Kono helped Chin to get up and Danny took the gun away. It wasn't like Wo Fat could use it now, not with a third eye on the front.

“Hey that gun isn't even loaded!”

Chin blinked. “I must have forgotten to load it before I put it on... I had to be quick when Jenna called... I guess it's a good thing I didn't had to use it.”

Kono laughed and punched him in the arm. “Yeah right. You forgot.”

Wo Fat was dead. That felt funny. Not good, just funny. He did it. Danny was suddenly in front of him, looking worried.

“Babe, are you alright?”

“Yes. I think I thought he couldn't really die. Like Hesse and cockroaches. It feels almost anticlimactic.”

“Well, he is dead, believe me. And I didn't even have to book him.”

“You could still book me, Danno.”

Danny turned bright red.

“Well Babe, I don't think I'm quite ready for the kinky stage of our relationship.”

\---

Anticlimactic was pretty much an accurate description of what happened next.

Chin had apparently called the HPD before going down to rescue them and Danny actually had to book Steve up since he was still a wanted fugitive. He had to book Kono too but that didn't feel half as awkward. She bitched about her date though.

Between Chin's video, the money trail Jenna had followed and the evidence the police found in Wo Fat's phone and computer, Steve only spent two nights in the HPD's cells before he was officially exonerated of all charges and reinstated as the leader of the renewed Five-0 task force.

The new governor who had said some pretty nasty things to the press about Steve during the summer now wanted everyone to forget how close he had been to Jameson (who brought so much shame to their great state). Steve accepted to pose with him for a few pictures and to assist to a dozen press conferences in exchange for a free pass for Kono and the same deal he had with Jameson.

Steve already had a list of criminals he and Kono hadn't had the time to “visit” and he wanted very much to test his full immunity and mean on them.

 **Epilogue**

“Danno, why is uncle Steve burning the barbecue?”

Kono had been talking with Jenna and Danny for a few minutes when Grace had interrupted them. They all turned to the end of the lanai where they had left Steve take care of their meal. It said something about them that they weren't that surprised to see their boss warming the coals with a military issued flamethrower.

That didn't prevent Danny to scream at Steve though.

“Steven McGarrett! What do you think you're doing?”

Steve turned towards them, wearing protective glasses, oven mittens and a goofy smile.

“It's faster that way, Danno. I thought you were hungry.”

“Yes I am. So I don't want to have to rush to the hospital so your third degree burns can be treated instead of peacefully enjoying my meal.”

“It's okay, I know what I'm doing!”

“Like you did when you torched down that warehouse on the dock?”

“There was dynamite inside! How could I have known that?”

“You know what,” Jenna said, “I think the yelling and the screaming is like foreplay for them.”

“I could have told you that months ago, J.”

“What's foreplay?”

Jenna turned bright red at Grace's innocent question but Kono had had to live with Steve and his love drama for almost two months and she owed Danny some payback.

“I think you should ask your dad, Gracie. He would explain that much better than me. He and Steve are specialists.”

“Okay.”

Chin arrived with the beers not much later, while Grace and Kono were busy painting Jenna's toenails in blue because all the girls in Newark had blue nails. They had had one crazy summer and despite everything Kono had had fun – when she hadn't had to hear Steve being all anal about cleaning and tidying up. Still, she was glad everything was back to normal... as normal as it could be for them. She had missed having her own space, she had missed waking up early every morning to hit the waves, she had missed being able to just walk in the street and go out with friends. But most of all she had missed them, she had missed their Sundays at Steve's, she had miss their awkward, crazy, dysfunctional family.

They were good, Jenna laughing at something Chin had said, Grace very serious about her artistic task, Steve and Danny going from shouting to kissing over the barbecue, it was all good. Noisy but strangely peaceful.

“Food's ready!”

Grace stood up and ran to her father before being ordered to go wash her hands, the adults following her at a more sedate pace. 


End file.
